Movie Reviews
Titles starting with I
The Informant!
Here is a zany and enjoyable movie based on fact. Mark Whitacre started out in the early ‘90s as a whistleblower to the FBI, trying to expose price-fixing by Archer-Daniels-Midland, the biggest of the Big Agribusiness juggernauts. However, he turns out to be bipolar, a compulsive liar, an embezzler, and frankly, a nut. It hardly matters that his original cause was just. He piles one lie ... Read more »
The Informer
John Ford had a hard time getting this film made, as the protagonist, Gypo Nolan, is a terrible person. About the only good thing you can say about him is that he’s stupid, but even that doesn’t excuse the things he does. Down on his luck, kicked out of the IRA because he disobeyed orders, he needs some dough to take his girlfriend to America. The fare is £10. The British are offering a ... Read more »
Inglourious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino, from the times I’ve seen him on talk shows, seems to be the consummate asshole. He’s an asshole who knows how to make movies, though, and this is another amazing entry in his very small oeuvre. I must commend him for having made one of the few action-oriented films I’ve seen lately where the director has the confidence to let his camera linger, with no distracting moves, ... Read more »
Inkheart
The idea here is that there are certain people, silvertongues, who when reading a book aloud cause the characters and/or events to cross over into our world. It’s an interesting idea, and some of this movie is good, but it ends up with all too much special-effects hugger-mugger, too many things happening at once. I have to say that the locations are ravishing, though.
When I ... Read more »
Inland Empire
It is with great pleasure that I announce the bestowal of the coveted Gerry Award on David Lynch, the third honoree after Gus Van Sant (for the detestable Gerry) and Carlos Reygadas (for the insufferable Japón). The Gerry is given out weekly, monthly, or yearly, totally at the whim of the highly-respected Gerry Committee (me and Lee), to the most impenetrable, ... Read more »
The Innocents
After her gig in 1956 looking after a few dozen Siamese rugrats, Deborah Kerr must have decided she enjoyed being a governess so much that she took this job at an estate in the English countryside. She could even use the same wardrobe, those insane five-foot-wide hoop skirts. This is based on “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James, a story I have never read but which is often on Top Ten ... Read more »
Inside Llewyn Davis
As Llewyn Davis puts it, “If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it’s a folk song.” I don’t know about the getting old part—if I never hear “500 Miles” again I’d never miss it—but you get the idea. There was a time in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s when “folk music” was inexplicably popular. Yes, I know folk is still around, but the term covers a wider territory, both ... Read more »
Inside Man
Inside Man (2006) When we rented this we didn’t even realize it was a Spike Lee Joint; we were attracted by Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster, two folks who have never turned in a bad performance even in a bad movie. The Spike Lee brand name leads you to expect a certain type of product, and this isn’t it. It’s a straight thriller/puzzler, and wants to be like Read more »
Inside Out
Pixar has its mojo back! After a string of three sequels and Brave, all of which were okay films, none of which really measured up to the studio’s high standards, we now have one that showcases their strengths. Simply put: soaring imagination and a story that will touch your heart. It is not quite to up the level of Up and Read more »
Insidious: Chapter Three
I TiVoed this in the expectation that it would be a gore-fest of the kind that bore me silly. I figured twenty minutes, tops, before I hit the erase button. But at thirty minutes I was still watching. This movie is actually a lot better than any movie with a three after the title has any right to be. The team of James Wan and Leigh Whannell created the mega-ugly but mega-profitable Read more »